Category Archives: Consumer affairs

Remembering a tenacious campaigner

Posted on 2018-06-14 by Ramsden

It is with sadness we report that Anne Attlee, leader of the Metric Sense Campaign for almost forty years, passed away peacefully at the age of 87 on 31 May 2018. Likes(6)Dislikes(0)

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General | Tagged Anne Attlee, cm, metric changeover, Metric Sense campaign, mm | 4 Comments

Carry on muddling

Posted on 2018-05-25 by Ramsden

In these uncertain times, politicians are often keen to point out areas where Britain leads the world. We have a suggestion: creating a measurement muddle. Examples follow. Likes(13)Dislikes(0)

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Media | Tagged acre, imperial measures, measurement muddle, metric | 9 Comments

Ignorance is bliss, or perhaps not

Posted on 2018-05-17 by Ramsden

One of our regular contributors, Jake, has drawn our attention to a story that recently appeared on the BBC web site. Likes(15)Dislikes(6)

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, Health | Tagged alcohol, centilitre, communication, litre, NHS, unit of alcohol | 3 Comments

cm versus mm

Posted on 2018-05-11 by Ramsden

As the UK’s metric changeover drags on with no end in sight, we consider if the advantages of encouraging widespread use of the centimetre outweigh the risks. Likes(14)Dislikes(3)

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Media | Tagged centimetre, construction industry, metric, Metric Sense, millimetre, SI | 14 Comments

Metric vs Imperial. Which?

Posted on 2018-04-04 by Ramsden

We comment on a letter and the reply recently published in Which?, the magazine of the Consumers Association. Likes(37)Dislikes(4)

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, History, Technical | Tagged CRT, inches, metric, screen size, smartphone, TV | 1 Comment

A storm in a champagne glass

Posted on 2018-03-09 by Ramsden

We look into the recent story that appeared on BBC TV about the possibility of champagne becoming available again in the UK in pint bottles. Likes(46)Dislikes(22)

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law | Tagged bottle, champagne, half bottle, magnum, pint | 6 Comments

Then and now

Posted on 2018-02-02 by Ramsden

We take a look at a film from 1973 made with the aim introducing the metric system to the general public. Likes(41)Dislikes(47)

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History | Tagged "Simply Metric", metric, metrication, muddle, UK, UK Metrication Board | 7 Comments

Diaries, and a glimpse into the past

Posted on 2018-01-20 by ronniec

Many of us have probably bought a diary for 2018 recently. Ronnie Cohen takes a look at the conversion tables found at the front of many sold in the UK. Likes(39)Dislikes(44)

Posted in Consumer affairs, History, Technical | Tagged conversion, conversions, diary, factor, factors, imperial, metric, obsolete, unit, units | Leave a comment

Alpine DIY and the generation gap

Posted on 2018-01-12 by Ramsden

Happy New Year to all our readers. In this article, the Editor explains the reason for the absence of new posts on MV in recent weeks. This leads to a discussion of a issue that few of us, perhaps, have … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History, Views from abroad | Tagged cm, DIY, France, French, measurement units, metric, Metric Sense, metrication, mm | 7 Comments

A case of dumbing down on measures for US audience

Posted on 2017-09-30 by ronniec

Amid the reports last year about the failure of consumer tests for the Galaxy S7 Active phone, one notable difference between the official use of the International Protection (a.k.a Ingress Protection) marks and the consumer reviews on an American website … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer affairs, Technical | Tagged American, dust, equipment, Galaxy, ingress, IP, marking, mobile, phone, protection, rating, US, water | 4 Comments